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Since departing Middle Earth all those years ago, Viggo Mortensen has stayed far away from franchises and big-budget blockbusters. Instead, Mortensen has collaborated with auteur filmmakers like Tony Scott, Brian De Palma, and David Cronenberg, to much acclaim.
As a director, Mortensen wears many hats, including star, writer, producer, and composer. His latest is The Dead Don't Hurt, a Western set in the 1860s that follows free-spirited Vivienne (Vicky Krieps), a Franco-Canadian who falls in love with Holger (Mortensen), a Danish rancher. When Holger goes off to fight in the American Civil War, Vivienne is left alone to fight in her own war at home.
Mortensen shows a deep love for the Western genre, and also an understanding of what it could do better, in The Dead Don't Hurt. Despite a career in independent films, don't count off his love for Tolkien's world. After all, he includes a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo straight out of Middle-earth, and he is not discounting a return to Tolkien's world himself in the upcoming The Hunt For Gollum.
Mortensen spoke to GQ over Zoom to discuss crafting his sophomore directorial effort, and of course, Lord of the Rings.
GQ: How did growing up in different countries across South America, Scandinavia and the U.S. and learning different languages that impact your view of the Western as a genre?
Viggo Mortensen: One thing I found lacking in Westerns was cultural diversity. Usually, the protagonists are U.S.-born. Normally you might have an Englishman once in a while, but they're generally Anglo-Saxons. In our story, the two leads don't have English as their first language, also there are other characters that you see in the town, which a few years earlier would have been part of Mexico, so to me it was as important to get the diversity of the society, even in a small town like that in the West. You should hear different languages and accents, I think it would be natural.
GQ: Growing up a fan of the genre, what are some staples that you were mindful not to mess with, or that you wanted to play with?
VM: I didn't want to reinvent the genre visually in any way. I didn't want to make a Sergio Leone movie, even though I like them, because I didn't want audiences to think about the camera like you do in those movies. I wanted to show the landscapes the best way possible in a natural, simple, elegant way, and show people in those landscapes and in those buildings, and see all the details. We were trying to respect the codes of the classic Western in terms of photography and historical accuracy, but then knowing that having an ordinary, strong-spirited woman be the lead character was unusual.
There are silences between the characters where a lot is transmitted without words, but unless you cast the movie properly and you're lucky with that, it's not going to work. When Vicky [Krieps] said yes, I knew we had a chance to make a good Western and that we could hold a shot on her where she's not saying anything.
GQ: The film has a few fantasy sequences, and I noticed that in one of them you can see what looks like your sword Andúril from Lord of the Rings. What's the story behind that choice?
VM: We had everything for this sequence with a knight. We had found this great, spirited horse, the right kind of saddle, and we made a medieval kind of blanket, and we had the costume for the knight. Everything was right, and then I said, well, we should have a sword. And I did look and there were some good ones and I thought, well, it might be kind of good to use this one that I had because it's really good. But I knew I would have to ask permission because I'm sure somebody would notice it, even if you only see it for a few seconds, it's not really essential to the scene and certainly not to the movie, it's just something in passing that you either see or you don't.
So I did ask Peter Jackson if he'd be all right with it, and he said, "Well, is it very important in the story?" I said, no, it's not, actually. You hardly notice it, but somebody will, probably. He said it was okay with him but that I should ask the movie company. So I contacted them and they were fine with it. They realised it wasn't essential, it wasn't going to draw a lot of attention to itself. And they were very nice about it, and they gave us permission. That's why we did it, just because it seemed right. It was kind of a last-minute accident.
GQ: You don't only act, write, and direct the film, but also compose the score. What is your approach when it comes to the music?
VM: I don't like when something tells the audience what they should think, and it goes for music, but also dialogue, camera work and acting styles. There doesn't have to be music all the way through the movie. Some people do that, and I don't know if it's just their taste or if they're afraid that people won't be interested if they don't constantly put music in there, but whatever music there is in the film should accompany and add to and help what's being told. It shouldn't underline it. Sometimes it can assist by being counter in tone to what's happening. And sometimes you should almost not notice it.
I actually composed and we recorded almost all of the music for the movie way before we started shooting. That probably sounds a little counterintuitive, but it was actually very helpful to me because I did it based on the script and I'm thinking about music as I wrote. I found it helpful to share the music with the cinematographer and other people on the team before we started shooting to explain tone or mood. For me, music is part of the screenplay.
GQ: Back when The Hobbit was first announced, you said that you would return to play Aragorn if the story was right and the character actually did something. With the recently announced The Hunt for Gollum, which does involve Aragorn, would you consider returning?
VM: Sure. I don't know exactly what the story is, I haven't heard. Maybe I'll hear about it eventually. I like playing that character. I learned a lot playing the character. I enjoyed it a lot. I would only do it if I was right for it in terms of, you know, the age I am now and so forth. I would only do it if I was right for the character. It would be silly to do it otherwise.
The Dead Don't Hurt is in cinemas in the UK and Ireland from 31 May.